Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Apple launches iPhone 5S and 5C

Apple yesterday unveiled not one, but two new iPhones, the high-end iPhone 5S and a less expensive version known as the iPhone 5C.

Apple launches iPhone 5S and 5C
Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Phil Schiller speaks about the new iPhone 5C on September 10, 2013 (Note: the "free" iPhone 4S requires a 2-year telephone contract)

Apple will begin taking orders on Friday, and on September 20 the two devices will go on sale in the United States, Australia, Britain, China, France, Germany, Japan and Singapore.

According to Apple vice president Phil Schiller, the iPhone 5S is the "gold standard in smartphones". 

Schiller said the 5S model includes a speedier chip which brings up the computing power from 32 to 64 bits. 

"It has over a billion transistors in it," he said, adding that the device will be "about twice as fast in graphics and computing power and about 40 times faster than the original iPhone." 

The 5S will also have improved battery life, with some 10 hours of talk time, or 40 hours of music listening, Schiller added. 

Apple introduced a fingerprint sensor for the iPhone 5S, as a new security measure in place of passwords. 

 
Apple's new iPhone 5S features a fingerprint sensor has an upgraded camera, and contains an A7 chip.

"You can just press the home button to unlock your phone," Schiller said. "You can use it to authenticate iTunes purchases " 

Schiller added: "We have so much of our personal data on these devices and they are with us almost everyplace we go, so we have to protect them." 

The iPhone 5S also features a new "iSight" camera that uses a special flash designed to improve colour balance. 

The iPhone 5C is aimed at more budget-conscious consumers, including users in emerging markets like China and, yes, Thailand.

 
Apple Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller shows off a green iPhone 5C. The new phone comes in a range of colours and will run on iOS 7.
 
The iPhone 5C with 16 gigabytes of memory has cut costs through the use of less expensive materials. The case is plastic rather than metal, for example. 

Apple insists however, that there have been no compromises in quality. 

"We took the same fanatical care with how the iPhone 5C feels in your hand," Ive said. 

The budget phone has a 4-inch Retina display and the same 8-megapixel rear camera and A6 processor as the iPhone 5. 

The "C" in the model name may stand for colour. Buyers now have five choices: lime green, white, yellow, red and bright blue. 

Story contains information from AFP.

Official Apple video for the iPhone 5C:

10 New iOS 7 Features for the enterprise | 2013

Summary: Apple has added 10 new enterprise features to iOS 7 making it the most manageable and secure mobile OS on the planet.
  
Much fuss was made about iOS 7 at Apple's iPhone event yesterday in Cupertino, but aside from a lot of eye candy (and iTunes radio!) what's in it for the Enterprise? As it turns out, quite a bit.

iPhones and iPads are being deployed at companies in increasing numbers and with close to 700 million iOS devices sold, even those that don't "officially" support them are seeing an influx of them as part of the BYOD phenomenon.

Apple revealed that its next-generation mobile operating system will be released on September 18, 2013 and Enterprise users and IT administrators should note several new features that will make iPhones and iPads more secure and easier to manage in corporate environments. In addition, iOS 7 offers some new ways to configure and deploy devices at scale, and has new features to help businesses purchase, distribute, and manage apps. 
 
Perhaps the biggest new enterprise feature is the iPhone 5S' fingerprint identity sensor, which while technically hardware, is enabled by new software features in iOS 7. Branded as the Touch ID fingerprint reader and invisibly embedded in the home button, this 500ppi fingerprint sensor can keep enterprise data more secure than ever. Touch ID brings two-factor authentication to the iPhone, combining something you know (i.e. a passcode) with something you have (your fingerprint) to increase security.

As detailed in its iOS 7 for business webpage, Apple's new OS has several offerings that will appeal to Enterprise users and administrators:

"Open in..." management

When you touch an email attachment on an iPhone you'll see the familiar "open in..." option which allows you to choose which app opens said attachment. iOS 7 allows business to protect corporate data by controlling which apps (and accounts) are used to open documents and attachments. Managed "open in..." gives IT the ability to configure the list of apps available in the sharing panel. This keeps work documents in corporate apps and also prevents personal documents from being opened in managed apps.

Per app VPN

iOS 7 apps can be configured to automatically connect to VPN when launched giving administrators granular control over corporate network access. It ensures that data transmitted by managed apps travels through VPN — and that other data, like an employee's personal web browsing activity, does not.

Enterprise single sign on

Enterprise single sign on (SSO) means user credentials can be used across apps, including apps from the App Store. Each new app configured with SSO verifies user permissions for enterprise resources, and logs users in without requiring them to reenter passwords.

Mobile Device Management (MDM)

The new MDM protocol in iOS 7 includes several commands, queries, and configuration options that make third-party MDM solutions even more powerful. With iOS 7 MDM IT administrators can set up managed apps, install custom fonts, configure accessibility options and AirPrint printers, and whitelist AirPlay destinations over the air.

But that's not all!

Apple has also added Streamlined MDM enrollment, improved App Store license management, third-party app data protection, improved mail and support for Caching Server 2 into iOS 7, making it the most manageable and secure mobile OS on the planet.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

New Nexus 7 Flash Player-Play Flash FLV/F4V video on new Nexus 7

Description: Most of Flash videos are in FLV/F4V format and not supported by new Nexus 7. This article introduces the way to how to play Flash videos well on new Nexus 7.

The Powerful and portable new Nexus 7 from Google is thinner, lighter, and faster and features the world’s sharpest 7" tablet screen putting over 2.3 million pixels in the palm of your hand. 

With 323 pixels packed into every inch, you can read text that’s sharper than the printed page, see images more vivid than the highest quality photo magazine, and what’s more, watch videos come to life in vibrant 1080p HD. It is made for what matters you. 

When you have downloaded many flash videos usually in FLV or F4V format from video sharing websites like YouTube and want to watch them on Nexus 7, you may find that it cannot be accepted by new Nexus 7. Because many video sharing webs use Adobe flash technology, which is not supported by new Nexus 7. 

There is a very easy way to get Flash FLV/F4V videos played on Nexus 7. Install a Flash Player on new Nexus 7 without any more complicated steps. This tip will help to enable flash videos with Nexus 7 quickly. 

However, if you still have problems, you should turn to the following solution, which is the most reliable and effective solution. Turn to third-party software to convert flash FLV/F4V to new Nexus 7 MP4 format, the most compatible format for most Android devices.

A professional Flash Video Converter: Pavtube Flash Video to Nexus 7 Converter is recommended. With it you can download any Flash videos for enjoying it with new Nexus 7 anytime and anywhere. It has the user-friendly and easy interface and superfast conversion speed especially with CUDA acceleration. And it supports to import a variety of videos besides FLV/F4V and output various videos with high quality. Moreover, it will get conversion done in few clicks.  

Download and install the software to learn how to convert FLV/F4V to MP4 format for playback on New Nexus 7. (New Nexus 7 Mac Video Converter is right for Mac users)

Step 1. Import Flash videos to Flash video to New Nexus 7 Converter.

There are two ways for loading files: 

1. Find the flash videos on your computer and then directly drag and drop it to the software, and you can pick several files you want and import them at one time.

2. Click “Add video” or “Add from folder” button to locate the flash videos on your computer and then import to the software.



Step 2. Choose H.264 MP4 format for new Nexus 7.

A mass of video formats for output is listed in “Format” menu. You are recommended to choose the “Google Nexus 7 H.264 Video (*.mp4)” under “Android” catalogue for output.



If you want to customize the video parameters, just click the “Settings” button on the main interface. In order to get the best view effect, you can set display resolution to 1280×800 pixels for get full screen

Tips: You can edit the videos like trim, crop, add effect and watermark, etc. If you want to edit, click “Edit” button to achieve it.


Step 3. Convert Flash FLV/F4V to new Nexus 7.

“Borwse” your computer to find a convenient folder for output video, then click “Convert” button to start conversion. Once completed, you can press “Open” button to get the output files quickly.

Tips: If you want to watch the online flash videos in YouTube, Google videos, etc, Youtube Converter is the best helper for you and it will detect, download and convert flash FLV/F4V videos to MP4 format for Nexus 7. You can have a try.

Since everything is done, you can go to transfer the output video to new Nexus 7 for watching at any time.

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Friday, September 6, 2013

Rip/Sync Blu-ray to iTunes with forced subtitles for iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV

Do you want to make Blu-ray portable on Apple devices? Want to preserve forced subtitles of Blu-ray on iTunes? This article mainly introduces the way to sync Blu-ray movies to iTunes.

Blu-ray HD movies can give you great detail and sharpest bright colors. There are no details that can escape from HD movies even an aging actress's wrinkle. When you already have a Blu-ray, most of you are not willing to repurchase it with ridiculous prices from iTunes. But Blu-ray cannot be played directly on your Apple devices like iPhone, iPod, iPad, iPad Mini or Apple TV because of lacking Blu-ray player. How to make Blu-ray portable with Apple devices? The answer is to rip Blu-ray to iTunes compatible videos so you can transfer them to your iPhone, iPad, iPod, or stream to Apple TV etc for playback.

What you need is a professional Blu-ray Ripper that can help you to remove the protection of Blu-ray and then convert to iTunes supported videos formats like MP4, MOV etc with outstanding video quality. What's more, some Blu-ray contains the unknown language like Avatar and you cannot understand it without subtitles. So to keep the subtitles for unknown language is necessary for full enjoyment. In this case, Pavtube BDMagic (now you can get 30% off) is the ideal software to you. It will help to rip and convert Blu-ray to a mass of videos formats with fast speed and high video quality. 


Moreover, you can choose the desired subtitle for output and select forced subtitles for some unknown languages. Now let's go to learn how to do it.

How to convert Blu-ray to iTunes with forced subtitles for iPad, iPhone, iPod and Apple TV?

Get your Blu-ray drive ready and insert Blu-ray you need to the drive. And keep networked when ripping Blu-ray.

Tips: If you are running on Mac, please try BDMagic for Mac.

Step 1. Load Blu-ray to Blu-ray to iTunes Converter.

Run the best Blu-ray to iTunes Converter, click "Load file" button to select the inserted Blu-ray and import it for transferring to iTunes. It will take only few seconds to rip Blu-ray. Then the software will recognize the actual main title of Blu-ray and pick it automatically. You do not need to look for the main title manually.

Press the selected main title you can preview the whole Blu-ray movies on the preview window on the right, which works like a media player.



Step 2. Check forced subtitles for output.

Because Blu-ray always contains multiple subtitle and audio tracks, you can go to choose the desired subtitle and audio on the interface for output.

Beside subtitles option, "Forced subtitle" is optional and uncheck by default. Go to check "Forced subtitles" for output. Take note that it will output forced subtitles only if it is checked.

Step 3. Choose iTunes compatible format for Apple devices.

Choose the iTunes supported formats in the "Format" dropdown list. You can go to "Common Video" or "HD Video" options to find what you like. I think MP4 format is better for iTunes.

But, here you are recommended to choose the Apple devices like iPad, iPone, Apple TV, etc directly. Find a suitable format under these Apple devices options.

Tips: For some advances users, you can go to adjust video and audio parameters like bitrate, resolution, channels, etc. Click "Settings" button you can go to check and change them as you like.

Step 4. Convert Blu-ray to iTunes.

Before conversion you can go to "Browse" your computer to find the folder for output files. Then click "Convert" button to get Blu-ray to iTunes conversion started. After a while, you can find the generated file for iTunes quickly via "Open" button.

Now open your iTunes and then sync the ripped Blu-ray movies to iTunes library for convenient playback on Apple devices. In this way, you can enjoy your favorite Blu-ray with forced subtitles on your iPad/iPhone/iPod wherever you are.

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Thursday, September 5, 2013

Free Convert C300 multi audio channels MXF files to FCP X, FCP 6/7 with best quality

How to editing Canon C300 multi audio channels MXF footage in Final Cut Pro 7 and FCP X? Follow our tips to make video editing with C300 MXF footage go as smoothly as possible.

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Working with Canon C300 footage – which is XDCAM 422 50/Mbs footage in a .MXF wrapper – should ordinarily be quite straight forward. MXF files will work natively in Adobe Premiere and ingest quite happily through a free plugin in Final Cut Pro 7 and FCP X.  You can also bring this footage in through AMA into Avid Media Composer 6. AbelCine has an excellent step by step guide to importing C300 footage to Premiere CS6, FCP X, FCP 7 and Avid Media Composer 6. You can check it out here.

Everything will work seamlessly, that is, if your cards have been copied correctly to the hard drive with their entire folder structure intact. Without that folder structure you are effectively locked out of accessing your footage and an editing application like FCP7 will give you an error message like this one:



How to Copy MXF Files Correctly

So how do you copy cards correctly?

Well first, and this may go without saying, but if you're going to get an intern or producer to do it make sure they know what they're doing. Essentially you must copy the entire card structure (preferably not through dragging and dropping in the finder).

Sony and Canon both have free browser apps that will let you back up your media. Or you could invest in something like Shotput Pro to duplicate your cards to multiple drives simultaneously. You are backing them up as you go, right?

If that's not enough detail, just watch this great tutorial on a correct tapeless media workflow from Shane Ross. Although the tutorial winds up in Final Cut Pro 7, the initial principles are the same for any system. If you want even more tips, check out this great video from Chase Jarvis on his complete tapeless workflow.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AhDnyWFAM10" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

What To Do If Your C300 Card Structure Is Broken

If for whatever reason your card structure doesn't come across intact, what can you do?

Depending on your NLE you have various options. If you're in Adobe Premiere it doesn't matter, as it will read the MXF files just fine.

First, you can try to 'fake it' out by recreating the C300 card structure (which should look like the example below). In the past I'm sure I've gotten lucky with it but its a pretty slim chance of actually working.

FCPX needs a correct card structure so if you have to, transcoding in a 3rd party app is a feasible workaround.



Free App For Converting C300 MXF Files

Miro is a great free app (one of the few free apps I found) that actually works and works well. Miro Video Converter will allow you to grab the .MXF files and transcode them into ProRes 422, DNxHD and AVC Intra 1080p and 720p. You can batch transcode as many of them as you like and it works pretty quickly. The files look great and were a higher quality than files I created using the demo of MXF Converter for Mac from Pavtube. But as Miro is a free app, there are a few catches.
(Tips: If you want to preserve multi audio channels when convert Canon C300 MXF, or mix multi tracks into one track, Pavtube iMixMXF is highly recommended to you. Refer to the guide: How to convert MXF to ProRes 422 preserving multi-track for FCP?)





canon c300 mxf to fcp converter


First, you cannot specify the output folder and it defaults to your MacHD > User > Movies folder. So you need to have enough space on your boot drive to transcode the footage too. This is also a problem if you have multiple files with the same name, (which I had on this edit with a two camera shoot) as this means you have to transcode one set at a time and move them out of the folder so as not to overwrite them with the next batch. Annoying.

Also the original camera footage I was working with had two audio tracks in it where as Miro would only export a single mono track. This was not helpful either as I needed to be able to mix each track individually.

Paid Apps for Working With C300 MXF Files



As I was editing on an FCP7 system I had to find a way to get my C300 MXF files to play nice with Final Cut Pro 7, while getting around the broken file structure. A cry for help on Twitter led to this great recommendation from Andy Mees who saved the day by suggesting I check out both MXF Import from Calibrated {Q} or MXF4Mac from Hamburg Pro Media. Both plugins essentially do the same thing which is to allow Quicktime (and any apps that make use of the Quicktime architecture) to work with MXF files, just like any other file.

Calibrated{Q} MXF Import for OSX is a QuickTime Import component for NATIVE Importing and Editing of MXF Files within Final Cut Pro 6, 7, and X without using Log and Transfer.

And you’re not just limited to Final Cut Pro, you can also natively import and work with MXF files in CatDV, Compressor, Motion, Sound Track Pro, QuickTime Player and Shake.


You can download a free demo of MXF Import from Calibrated {Q} to test that it will work on your system. The demos only restriction is that it only allows you to view the first 30 seconds of the clip, other than that it’s the same as the full app. After installing the plugin I could drop the C300 MXF files directly onto the timeline in FCP7 and get editing – and with the dual audio tracks in the original files! Huzzah.

Hopefully these tips will save you some time, effort and frustration with broken MXF file structures.  And next time you’ll just copy the cards structure correctly…and get to editing!